West Ham boss David Moyes addressed the media after his side’s 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool last night, and explained how he told his players before the game to keep the ball away from Reds ace Virgil van Dijk, as quoted by Football.London.
The Dutchman has been in imperious form once again this season. The 28-year-old is arguably the best centre-back in world football right now.
Van Dijk joined Liverpool in January 2016, for a fee believed to be worth £75 million (BBC).
The former Celtic and Southampton defender has made 117 clearances for Liverpool in 24 Premier League games this season (premierleague.com) – the third most in the entire division.
Th Reds have conceded just 15 goals in the 24 games Van Dijk has played. He has made only 19 tackles in those outings (premierleague.com), but that is because his positioning is so good, he rarely needs to dive in.
The Netherlands international is an absolute man mountain at the back for Liverpool.
Hammers players failed to heed Moyes’s advice
It was from Van Dijk’s cleared header from a Robert Snodgrass corner that the Reds broke to score their second goal at the London Stadium last night.
And Moyes told reporters how he warned his West Ham players before the match to keep the ball away from the 6ft 4in centre-back, as quoted by Football.London:
“Of course we have talked about the speed of the counter-attack. More importantly we talked about not putting the ball near Van Dijk’s head because he heads the corners out. That was probably the biggest thing, we really didn’t want to get the ball near Van Dijk and he was the one who headed it away and they break from it.”
West Ham now need to refocus ahead of Saturday’s huge clash with Brighton and Hove Albion. Nothing less than a win will do. With away games against Manchester City and Liverpool to come in their next two matches, a draw or a defeat to the Seagulls would make the Hammers real relegation candidates.
There is one positive for West Ham, however. At least they only have to face Liverpool’s Van Dijk once more this season.
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